Nextek CEO Headlines in Haverford Magazine

Nextek CEO Paul Savage was the featured alumnus in the Winter 2012 edition of Haverford Magazine, a magazine for alumni, parents, and friends of Haverford College. In a four-page story titled “Power Surge,” Savage, who graduated from Haverford University in 1983, is profiled as restarting the battle between Alternating Current and Direct Current for supremacy in powering American businesses and homes.

Savage’s role in building Nextek and introducing its technology and products to companies throughout the US and overseas is discussed, as is his hand in creating the EMerge Alliance, an organization of 80 businesses dedicated to establishing standards for the Direct Current industry.

Writer Michelle Martinez describes the CEO’s path from Philosophy major at Haverford, to 18 years in Finance, to his eventual role as investor, and then CEO of the Detroit company.
The article also details the original debate between Thomas Edison, who was a proponent of DC, and George Westinghouse, who designed the AC grid model that powers the nation today. But the introduction of the semiconductor fifty years ago—which requires DC power and is used in most of our electronics today—made the modern debate inevitable.